CRN Interview: Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina last week addressed HP's Americas Partners, underscoring their $50 billion contribution to HP's $73 billion in annual revenue last year as a critical role in the success of its adaptive enterprise strategy. Afterward, Fiorina fielded questions in an exclusive interview with CMP Media Channel Group President Robert Faletra, Editorial Director Robert C. DeMarzo and Editor Heather Clancy.

Q: What do you need to do and what does the channel need to do to be successful in HP's Adaptive Enterprise strategy, specifically as it compares to IBM?

FIORINA: You're right, the main battleground is IBM because Dell is not a technology company, they're a distribution company. There are really only two technology companies of any magnitude. So fundamentally, the Adaptive Enterprise is about more than a single contract or a single buzzword around technology. It is about HP and our partners working with our customers to enable them to think differently about technology, use technology differently,not just for the short term, but for the long term. And I point that out because I think it's really important for our partners to understand this is about the creation of a long-term relationship.

The Adaptive Enterprise is a journey that our customers take and that we and our partners can take together with them. We will not be successful in the Adaptive Enterprise without our partners, and I mean partners broadly there. Because the Adaptive Enterprise looks at an entire business' organization. This is about process, application and infrastructure. On demand, as IBM describes it, is a technology sale. It's one solution to a particular problem. Our competitive solution to on demand is utility computing. Utility computing is a solution that we sell with our partners; it is one piece of the Adaptive Enterprise.

Q: You spoke earlier today about channel investment. Could you talk a little bit about where you are guiding your investment priorities?

FIORINA: I talked about the things I talked about in my speech because those are our priorities for our channel partners. We want our channel partners to be lined up with us in the Adaptive Enterprise and, yes, we are making investments to help them come up to speed and accelerate their ability to have those conversations.

Q: What is your expectation, specifically, out of the new channel alignment?

FIORINA: Internally, what we're doing is simplifying our organization for speed and effectiveness. So, one of the things that I expect is faster positioning, faster response. More effective response from the partner's point of view. The second priority I talked about was enhancing our customer focus. Total customer experience.

Customer focus. Providing real value for customers, as compared to all the competitive alternatives out there. And those competitive alternatives are other companies, and those competitive alternatives are other routes to market. Enhancing our customer focus has to be a collective priority of ours and of our partners. So a lot of what I want from [HP worldwide channel head Jim McDonnell] and [HP Americas channel chief Kevin Gilroy] and the team to do is to make the investments to enhance our focus with our partners,single value chain,and expect the partners to do the same. And the third priority I talked about was accelerating our growth. We need faster, profitable growth. We're going to be looking for results against those three metrics.

Q: Why did you drive to this single channel organization across the company? What was wrong and what benefit will you get?

FIORINA: I come at what I do with a different point of view. Remember I talked about change. I think companies to lead have to always be evolving. You can't ever stop. You can't say, 'Gee, everything is fine,' and sit in place. The status quo is not a reasonable alternative, even if you're very successful. It wasn't that anything was wrong; it was that we can continue to improve.

When I first came to HP, people used to ask me, channel partners used to ask me, 'When are we done changing?' And the answer I always gave is, 'The company that thinks it's done, is done.' And there are a bunch of companies out there that have stopped changing and are getting done, rapidly. So, it's not about something being wrong, it's about let's take the next step.